Progress toward poliomyelitis eradication—India, January 2010–September 2011

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched in 1988. In 1995, when eradication activities were initiated in India, an estimated 50,000 polio cases were occurring each year. By 2006, transmission of indigenous wild poliovirus (WPV) had been interrupted in all countries except India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria. During 2006–2009, India annually reported 559 to 874 cases of confirmed WPV, with cases centered in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. These cases accounted for 43% of confirmed cases of WPV reported worldwide during this period. However, in 2010, only 42 WPV cases were reported in India, and in 2011, only one WPV case had been confirmed as of October 31. This report updates previous reports and summarizes progress toward polio eradication in India during January 2010–September 2011. Throughout India, the most recent confirmed WPV type 3 (WPV3) case occurred on October 22, 2010, in Jharkhand, and the most recent confirmed WPV type 1 (WPV1) case occurred on January 13, 2011, in West Bengal; WPV2 has not been reported in India since 1999. Importation of WPV into India is a risk, and undetected low-level WPV transmission is a possibility, requiring high vaccination coverage in all states, continued focus on children in migrant and underserved populations, sensitive surveillance for prompt detection of any WPV, and preparedness to mount a robust emergency vaccination campaign in response to any WPV cases.